Chicago Title Insurance Co.

From Demir Barlas

Here are the Title Insurance Services that Chicago Title Insurance Offers to Lenders and Buyers.

Chicago Title Insurance is one of the oldest continuously operating title insurance companies in the country, having started in Chicago in 1847. The company did not go beyond its Illinois roots until the 1950s, and even today it serves mainly the Western and Midwestern parts of the United States. Chicago Title Insurance has become a more diversified company of late, offering a wide variety of home-related financial services such as flood insurance contract servicing, property evaluations and field services.

Types of Coverage Offered by Chicago Title

There are two forms of title insurance: one for the lender, and one for the owner. Chicago Title Insurance offers both varieties. The lender usually mandates that the owner purchase title insurance, while government regulations often require lenders to have their own title insurance. The lender's title insurance does not cover the owner.

Lender: When a lender facilitates an owner's purchase of a home, it is counting on the home as collateral for the loan. Thus, even if the owner defaults on payments, the lender still owns the home and can therefore cut losses by reselling the house. Title insurance for lenders is an assurance that if the owner ends up losing title on the home, the lender will not incur financial damages by losing its collateral.

Owner: When an owner buys a home, he or she hopes and assumes that he or she has a right to that home. But if the transfer of title was invalid for one of a number of reasons (for example, a co-tenant of the house not agreeing to the sale, or the title having a tax lien on it), then the owner loses his or her right to the home. Owner's title insurance is protection against this possible risk. It insures the owner from financial loss and also pays legal bills. Chicago Title Insurance has also been known to pay unexpected special assessment taxes on behalf of policy owners.

Chicago Title Insurance stands out from some other title insurance providers because of the breadth of its coverage. The company's policy covers not only title insurance basics, such as forged deeds, but also extras such as value-added protection (automatically increasing coverage every year, keeping pace with home price appreciation) and water/mineral rights damage, which covers damage to a homeowner's property resulting from someone else's exercising water and/or mineral extraction rights on the owner's property.

Title insurance claims are far less frequent than, say, medical claims, but Chicago Title Insurance says that claims have been rising "dramatically" in the past two decades.

Chicago Title's Costs and Fees

A title insurance premium is paid once, at closing. Costs depend on the value of your house and your location. While some title insurers give visibility into their rates by offering premium calculators on their websites, Chicago Title Insurance requires you to contact an agent for a quote.

Contact Information for Chicago Title Insurance

Chicago Title Insurance Co.'s website offers a branch locator service. The title insurance division can also be reached by telephone at 888-866-3684.